


What It Means

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Post War, Romance, The Quidditch Pitch: Eternity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-03
Updated: 2006-06-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 11:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10808118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Ron and Harry are happy with things just the way they are, until one day when Ron gets hurt and Harry is forced to look at things a little deeper.





	What It Means

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes:

**Beta:** Many thanks, and all credit, goes to [](http://misssolitude.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://misssolitude.livejournal.com/)**misssolitude**.  


**A/N:** This is for [](http://nefyr.livejournal.com/profile)[**nefyr**](http://nefyr.livejournal.com/), for making me smile when I needed it, and showing me that family isn't just blood relatives, but the people who truly care about you. ♥  


* * *

Harry grunts, throwing his arm over his face to shield his eyes from the bright light streaming in through the bedroom window.

“S’going on?” he asks sleepily.

His question is met with silence.

“Ron?”

When he doesn’t hear anything in response, he closes his eyes tightly against the light and rolls over sideways, only to fall into a cold bit of bed normally occupied by a large, warm body. A body Harry likes to curl into when he is cold, or the light is too bright, or really any time he feels like it. Especially when he wants sex. Except that said body is currently not in bed, and obviously hasn’t been for some time.

Muttering to himself about sleep and sun and something that sounds suspiciously like payback, Harry grabs his glasses off the nightstand before making his way towards the kitchen.

“Bloody wanker, he never gets up this early. Every morning I get up at five for quiddtich practice and he sleeps in until seven. But oh no, the one morning I finally get off and I don’t even get to sleep in or have a fantastic morning shag. Wanker. You‘re going to pay for this Weasley!” The last part is yelled loudly, just for good measure.

Opening the kitchen door, Harry fully expects to see Ron worshiping a cup of tea and the Daily Prophet. Instead he is met with a dark, drafty kitchen. No tea, no morning paper, and most definitely no handsome redhead at the table.

“What the hell?” Harry is truly mystified.

Realizing that there is no way he can go back to sleep without knowing where Ron is, Harry walks towards the sink to put on a pot of tea. After placing the pot on the stove, he walks through the entire flat again for good measure, just make sure that Ron isn’t hiding anywhere. By the time he’s done though, the only things he knows for sure are that Ron definitely showered before leaving, is wearing his nicest blue velvet cloak, and he has his wand with him. Which all mean nothing to Harry, except that Ron obviously felt it necessary to leave without telling him. He tries to tell himself that he isn’t a little miffed, but the truth is worse. He is worried. Minutes later Harry realizes he‘s still standing in the living room staring at the wall. Unable to think where else to look at the moment Harry wanders back into the kitchen and sits at the table with a steaming cup of tea in front of him, and not a clue where Ron has gotten too.

 

**~*~*~*~**

By eleven o'clock, Harry can’t decide if he is pissed or terrified. On the one hand, this isn’t like Ron, which means that something could be terribly wrong. Yet Harry knows Ron is fully capable of taking care of himself, and besides, he can’t figure out what trouble Ron could’ve gotten himself into so early. Especially wearing his nicest cloak.

“Stupid Potter, probably worried about nothing. He‘s probably just, just-” but Harry can’t even guess what Ron might be doing.

With a heavy sigh, he wanders back into the living room and plops himself down onto the armchair by the fireplace, curling his legs underneath him. A swish of his wand and a quickly whispered spell and there is a roaring fire in the hearth. Taking a deep breath, he rests his head against the armrest, doing his best to steady his breathing. Seconds later, though it seems more like hours to Harry, he is fast asleep.

 

**~*~*~*~**

_Crack_

Startled awake by the sound of someone aparating into the flat, Harry almost falls over in his haste to run into the front room. It has to be Ron.

“Ron?!” He yells, practically throwing the door off its hinges. Except it isn’t Ron, it’s Hermione. “What’re you doing here?” Harry knows he sounds rude but he doesn’t much care at the moment.

She looks upset.

“Where’s Ron?” His heart clenches at the look that crosses her face.

“Harry, just don’t panic.”

She knows something. She knows and she isn’t telling him

“Where is he, Hermione. Tell me!”

“He was at St. Andrews a few minutes ago, Harry. He should be at St. Mungos by now though.”

“St. Andrews, but wait, isn’t that a muggle hospital? Why was he at a muggle hospital? How long has he been there? Why didn’t I know? Why do you know? What‘s wrong with him?”

“Calm down, Harry. I only just found out. Which is why I came straight here.” She holds her hands up to silence him before he can start asking more questions. “I don’t really know what’s wrong with him. All I know is that the Magic Reversal Squad got involved.”

“But why do you know and not me?“

“I ran into McCoy as I was coming out of the office this morning and he told me. No one knows yet, Harry. The muggles didn’t understand his identification, so of course they couldn’t contact you. Now, I knew you needed to know right away, but Harry, you must wait till they contact you about Ron. If you just show up on your own they’ll know someone told and McCoy could get into serious trouble for letting this out. I’m sure if you just wait-”

But Harry wasn’t listening. There was no way he was going to sit around and wait for someone to firecall him about Ron, not when he knew exactly where he was.

Without a resounding crack, he apparated to St. Munogs, leaving an annoyed Hermione standing in his living room.

 

**~*~*~*~**

“Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter, come back here this instant! You can‘t go down there.“ The nurses screeching is beginning to get on his nerves.

He stops and turns around to face her. “Oh, I can’t? Then I’m sure you’ll agree to tell me which room he’s in then, right?” He smiles brightly, as if to show his cooperation.

She looks slightly embarrassed. “It’s as I told you before, Mr. Potter, only next of kin and family are allowed that information. Until one of the Weasley’s comes, you’ll just have to wait in the waiting room like everyone else.” She says all this quite firmly.

“You can’t be serious. But I’m his Partner!”

“I’m well aware of that, as you’ve mentioned it three times already. However, as I clearly explained to you when you first got here, you are neither Mr. Weasley’s next of kin nor are you family. Therefore you are not allowed to see him yet.”

“This is ridiculous!” Several people turn to look at Harry as his voice begins to rise. “Just because Ron and I aren’t allowed to get married doesn’t mean we’re any less of a family than a man and a woman.”

The nurse tries to smile, but the effect is lost on Harry as she begins speaking, “I’m sure you’ll find a nice witch to settle down with eventually, Mr. Potter, and then none of this will be a problem.” She has the gall to look self satisfied at her suggestion.

Harry is furious, and more than a bit frustrated. “No, I don’t think that I will find a nice witch to settle down with later, seeing as how I’m already settled down with a nice wizard and have been for six years.”

Without waiting for a response, Harry marches down the hallway clearly marked 'employees only'.

“Mr. Potter!!” Her voice falls on deaf ears.

 

**~*~*~*~**

It takes Harry almost half an hour to locate Ron. There are almost as many rooms at St. Mungos as there are at Hogwarts and checking each one without being noticed is easier said than done. When he does finally find the right room, he finds Ron asleep on the hospital bed near the door. Luckily there is no roommate to contend with, so Harry slowly shuts the door before making his way to Ron’s bedside.

He knows he shouldn’t wake Ron up, that he needs his rest, but seeing him laying there against the stark white sheets makes Harry’s stomach queasy and his palms sweaty. He’s reminded forcefully of the war and all he wants is to see Ron’s blue eyes or to hear his voice. He needs it.

“Ron,” Harry whispers his name, as if still unsure whether or not he’s actually going to try and wake him up.

Ron’s eyelids begin to flutter and he squeezes the hand that Harry is holding.

“Harry?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” He bends over to press a kiss to Ron’s temple, gently brushing a few stray hairs off his forehead. “Are you okay, Ron? Merlin, I was so worried.”

“I’m fine, Harry.”

Harry doesn‘t quite believe him. “You don’t look so fine.”

“No, honestly, I’m alright. It’s, well-” Ron looks at the sheet as a blush travels up his cheeks. He mumbles the last part of his sentence and Harry strains his ears to listen, but he doesn't hear what he said.

"Huh?"

Ron meets his eyes this time, but the blush gets brighter. “I said it’s mostly the calming potion they had to give me. There wasn’t anything wrong with me.”

“Calming potion? What’d you need a calming potion for? And why was the Accidental Magic Reversal squad involved? And why were you at a muggle hospital? And why did you leave so early this morning without telling me? I was so worried. And why were you wearing your best cloak? ”

Ron stares at Harry as if he’s gone a bit crazy, but laughs just the same. “Whoa, mate. One question at a time, yeah?”

“Well, what exactly happened then? To you, I mean, and well, the magic squad and the hospital stuff too.”

“Not exactly one question, is it, Harry?” Harry smiles, because he knows Ron must really be feeling alright to tease him. “Well, I sort of accidentally, somehow, ended up in muggle London, you see.”

“How’d you end in muggle London?”

“No interrupting, Harry. Anyways, I was minding my own business when this thief comes out of no where and tries to steal my bag.”

“What bag?”

“Harry! Do you want to hear the story or not?”

Harry keeps his mouth shut, nodding his head instead.

“As I was saying, this guy comes out of nowhere and tries to steal my bag. So I might’ve sort of cursed him. It was a reflex though, honest. I mean, I normally wouldn’t curse anyone, especially a muggle, but he tried to steal my bag. And the muggles, they didn’t understand what was going on and some old woman thought I had a gun, whatever that is, and she hit me over the head with something. Though I’m still not quite sure what. ”

Harry can’t decide whether to laugh or cry at this. Instead he prompts Ron to finish his story, unable to think of anything even slightly helpful to say.

“Well, whatever the old lady hit me with must’ve been pretty hard because the muggle doctors said I had a concussion. The worst part was that they thought I was some kind of criminal! There were these guys in some kind of funny zebra looking uniforms questioning me about a gun, but they didn’t believe me when I told them I didn’t even know what it was. By the time the Magic Reversal Squad got there, I guess I was pretty upset, so they gave me a calming draught and brought me here.”

Harry takes a deep breath before looking at Ron. He had been so worried this morning, and the nurse had made it seem like he didn’t matter, like he wasn‘t Ron‘s family. He felt emotionally drained, and part of him was still annoyed at Ron for leaving without telling him and he still didn‘t know the full story, but Ron was okay and maybe none of that really mattered anymore. “But you’re okay, Ron, right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Well, a little embarrassed, but physically I’m alright. I just want to get out of here. Think we can go home now?”

Ron looks so happy at the idea of leaving that Harry can’t bring himself to question Ron about everything else. He figures it can wait.

“Yeah, yeah sure. Just let me go find a nurse.”

 

**~*~*~*~**

“What a bloody wench. I can’t believe the nerve of that nurse!” Ron complains as they make their way into their flat.

“It’s alright, Ron. Just let it go. The nurse said to go home and get some rest. Remember, you don’t need to work yourself up over it.”

Ron turns and looks at Harry as if he’s grown another head. “Not make a big deal out of this? She insinuated that we slept around, Harry. How can her attitude towards our relationship not bother you?”

“Yeah well, it’s not like she didn’t say something worse before. She's a bloody close minded fool, that‘s all.”

“What do you mean worse before. What’d she say, Harry?” The venom in Ron’s question takes Harry off guard.

“Just that I wasn’t your family. She didn’t seem too impressed by the fact that we were together, is all. She tried to make me wait in the waiting room, as if a simple no entrance sign could stop me.” He makes a huffing noise as he cross his arms across his chest. “That’s about it.”

“That’s it?” Ron gives Harry the same _you’ve lost your mind_ look as before as he walks over to take Harry in his arms. “That’s not nothing, Harry. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our relationship. Just because one crazy old lady doesn’t agree with us doesn’t make what we have wrong, or any less important. You know that, right?”

“Of course I know that.” Although if Harry is honest with himself, he needs the reassurance more than he is willing to admit. Relishing in the feel of strong arms around him, Harry takes a deep breath and inhales the strong, musky scent that is all Ron.

“Come on, let’s go to bed,” Ron says as he pulls Harry towards the bedroom.

Harry strips off his boxers and climbs into bed, stopping when he realizes Ron isn’t following suit. He turns around to see Ron halfway undressed, holding a small blue bag and looking decidedly nervous. Ron doesn’t speak, just walks over to the bed and crawls on top towards Harry. Making eye contact with Harry, he tips the bag upside down and lets a small black box tumble out. Instinctively, Harry’s hand snakes out to catch the box.

“Ron?”

“I wasn’t going to do this tonight, and I don’t want you to think I’m only doing this because of the lady at the hospital. Except that maybe I am sort of doing it because of her but not in the way you might think. She just made me realize that there will always be people who don’t accept us, but that doesn’t matter as long as we have each other and,” Ron pauses to take a deep breath, “Will you bond with me, Harry? I know it’s not the same as a marriage to everyone else, at least not in the wizarding world, but to me it is. We could even get married, if you wanted to do it the muggle way instead. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you, Harry.”

Harry looks a little overwhelmed. “So this is what you went out to get this morning?” He asks quietly.

“Well, yeah. It was supposed to be a quick trip since I already knew which ring I wanted to get and you weren’t even supposed to know I was gone, but things didn’t turn out exactly as I planned.” Ron sounds nervous.

Harry looks down at the almost ornate gold ring and back to Ron again and has to swallow down a lump in his throat. “I always swore I didn’t need this, you know? That it didn’t matter what people thought or that we couldn’t get married like everyone else. That what we had was between us and that was all that mattered.”

“If you don’t want to, it’s alright, Harry.” Though judging by the look on Ron’s face it would be anything but alright.

“Oh Ron, you don’t understand. I, oh bloody hell come here!” Harry grabs Ron’s face and kisses him, attempting to pour everything he’s feeling into the kiss. Moments later he pulls back to rest his forehead against Ron’s, breathing heavily. “I didn’t know how much I wanted this,” he points to the ring as he slowly places it on his finger, “because I didn’t know I could have it. I knew I wanted you, and that was all that mattered. This is so much more than I thought we could have.” He kisses Ron again, running his hands over his hair and face, anything to be as close to Ron as possible.

It is not a fairytale ending or some kind of perfect make-believe, not as far as Harry is concerned. In fact, if Harry has anything to say about it, this is just the beginning.


End file.
